31-Day MCSM One Shot Challenge - July Edition 2018

Gold

Generated word of the day: Gold

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Outside it was sunny and warm, the late afternoon sun baking down on Beacontown's streets. There were barely any clouds, the sky clear. The perfect summer day.

Jesse was barely aware of the weather outside, as she was hurrying around in her office in a mad scramble. Despite the air-condition in the room, strings of her brown hair stuck to her forehead with sweat, her face slightly red.

She stood slightly bent forward in front of her desk. Under one arm she held a small stack of papers, the other hand sweeping across the keyboard of her computer.

"Come on, come on." Jesse muttered under her breath, tapping her foot against the floor in annoyance when the machine didn't respond quick enough.

She was behind schedule on her work, despite staying at the office every evening until till late at night. Jesse was determined to get some well deserved rest that evening, but with the work piling up more and more by the second, it seemed it was going to end up being another late night for her.

Standing up straight, Jesse moved over to the other side of the room, impatiently waiting for the printer to spit out the desired documents.

On the way she passed her phone, which was vibrating every few minutes. Jesse didn't even dare check it, knowing there'd just be about a million emails – reminding her over evening more work.

"Print, you useless piece of machinery." Jesse hissed through gritted teeth, slapping her hand against the side of the printer. It rattled softly before finally, slowly, beginning to print the stack of papers she needed.

Breathing out a sigh, Jesse walked back to her desk, putting down the stack of papers she was carrying and slipping them into their respective folder while she waited for the next batch to be printed. She absent-mindedly tugged at the collar of her tight blouse, the fabric against her sweating skin starting to make her itch.

"I've always known you were a hot mess, but today you just confirmed all my suspicions."

Jesse glanced up from her folder, seeing a figure standing in the doorway, leaning on the wooden frame while they looked at her with a smirk.

"What are you doing here, Petra?" Jesse asked, looking back down and clipping shut the folder.

"You weren't answering my messages." Petra said matter-of-factly, pushing herself off the door frame and walking into the office. "Decided to come see what's keeping you distracted."

"I work every day, Petra, I think it's pretty self-explanatory." Jesse replied bluntly, pushing the folder into a cabinet, before picking up the freshly printed documents and striding back over to her desk.

"Yeah well, yesterday you said you were free today." Petra started curiously looking through the contents on Jesse's desk while she spoke. "Remember?"

Jesse stopped flipping through the papers for a split second. She let out a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Ah, now you're remembering that you promised we could hiking." Petra said, waving one of Jesse's own pens at her.

"I'm sorry." Jesse said as she started sorting through something on the computer again. "I've really got a lot of work right now. You and Lukas should've just gone without me."

"That's no fun!" Petra moaned, pouting playfully as she sat down on Jesse's desk chair, casually spinning it around. "Lukas and I are both free tomorrow again, by the way."

"I can't, Petra." Jesse said, clicking furiously on her mouse in frustration. She cursed under her breath, willing the computer to speed up. "You should just go without me."